If you remember my article from 2014 about "Bokeh Dreams", you may have noticed the unique bokeh of the Sony 135/2.8 STF. Now Venus Optics, an ambitious lens manufacturer from China, designed a new "smooth trans focus" potrait lens, the Laowa 105 mm f/2 STF.

STF stands for "Smooth Transition Focus" and was intruduced by Minolta in 1999. It means an optical design with dual diaphragm and an apodization element as shown in this schematic diagram:

Shot in Super35 4K mode with 25 fps, interpreted for playback as 30p (20% speed increase). Original file available as download on Vimeo if you have an account there. Please switch player to full screen mode and choose highest available resolution by clicking on the "HD" symbol.

Some wannabe" tech-gurus" say, the A6300 suffers from strong moiré as it has no 4K optimised low pass filter. I can not confirm this as long as you use the Super35mm 4K mode which downscales the 4K from approx. 6K.

I also read complaints about overheating issues and short battery life from people, which mean this prohibts "Pro" use. Well, let me tell you that not every "Pro" use needs recording times significantly longer than 20 Minutes per take or hours of battery life. The A6300 has priority for lightweight and compactness and if you need longer recording time, use an external power supply on the USB port. It will also keep the camera cooler as the internal battery will not add heat.

End of 2015 / early 2016 a couple of new (ultra) wide angle lenses entered the full frame market. Time to compare them to some candidates you might already know by yourself or from an earlier review on this site. Comparison was done using the Sony A7RII:

We tested the ZF.2 version (for Nikon F-mount) that comes with a dedicated aperture ring whereas the ZE version (for Canon EF mount) has an aperture controlled electronically by the camera or an adapter. The rubber coated focus ring provides good grip and allows smooth control over the focus. Other technical details like weather sealing or the declickable aperture ring were already explained in my earlier article. I was curious especially about the redesigned Distagon 1.4/50 with floating elements and one aspherical element, as well as the 1.4/85, a new Planar design with solely non-aspherical lens elements (including some floating elements) in order to prioritize a creamy bokeh.

As you can see in this example of the Milvus 1.4/50 attached to the Sony A7, the lenses are quite massive due to their solid construction and excellent build quality. The barrel design and the metal sun hood follow the design of the successful Batis and Otus families:

If you already followed this site for some time, you may have noticed that its articles usually concentrate on gear like cameras, lenses, recorders etc. and do not care much about accessories. But while searching for a flexible and comfortable solution when travelling and walking around for hours with my mirrorless camera plus some lenses and filters, the Cosyspeed Camslinger bags attracted my particular attention. In 2014, Cosyspeed started with the Camslinger 160 and 105 bags designed to be carried on the hip like a holster. It provides very quick one-hand access to the camera like a sling strap but with much better protection against bumps, rain, dust and views. One of its unique features is the adjustable size in order to customize it to different camera types.

Shot with Sony A7RII in 4K. Available as download on Vimeo. You can also play it directly in 1440p and 2160p on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrOIix3_Css . Please switch player to full screen mode and choose highest available resolution.